From 63a5780f29580ca98bdb26dbb44ef596a04e43e0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: stanbot8 <stanbot8@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2026 13:59:53 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix: point table validation to public sanitizer

---
 src/spatialdata/_core/validation.py |  2 +-
 tests/models/test_models.py         | 13 +++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/spatialdata/_core/validation.py b/src/spatialdata/_core/validation.py
index ad1e7a91e..b6c2eebfe 100644
--- a/src/spatialdata/_core/validation.py
+++ b/src/spatialdata/_core/validation.py
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ def __exit__(
         # Exceptions were collected that we want to raise as a combined validation error.
         if self._collector.errors:
             raise ValidationError(
-                title=self._message + "\nTo fix, run `spatialdata.utils.sanitize_table(adata)`.",
+                title=self._message + "\nTo fix, run `spatialdata.sanitize_table(adata)`.",
                 errors=self._collector.errors,
             )
         return True
diff --git a/tests/models/test_models.py b/tests/models/test_models.py
index 3b173a15b..33a98a434 100644
--- a/tests/models/test_models.py
+++ b/tests/models/test_models.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 from spatial_image import to_spatial_image
 from xarray import DataArray, DataTree
 
+import spatialdata
 from spatialdata._core.spatialdata import SpatialData
 from spatialdata._core.validation import ValidationError
 from spatialdata._types import ArrayLike
@@ -624,6 +625,18 @@ def test_table_model_invalid_names(self, key: str, attr: str, parse: bool):
                     else:
                         TableModel.validate(adata)
 
+    def test_table_model_invalid_name_suggests_public_sanitizer(self):
+        adata = AnnData(np.array([[0]]), uns={"invalid name": {}})
+
+        with pytest.raises(
+            ValidationError,
+            match=r"`spatialdata\.sanitize_table\(adata\)`",
+        ):
+            TableModel.validate(adata)
+
+        spatialdata.sanitize_table(adata)
+        TableModel.validate(adata)
+
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         "keys",
         [